Al Puhallo’s wild horse racing team covered three out of four horses to take first place at the Williams Lake Stampede last weekend (June 28-29).
The victory has them sitting in second place in the Canadian Wild Horse Racing Association standings this season.
The Quesnel native is the shankman for the team, which includes Justin Zimmerlee from Williams Lake (mugger) and Jordan Botter from Vernon (rider).
Puhallo says the win was no cake walk.
“It was real muddy out there on Friday and Saturday, so it was pretty hard slugging,” he says, while chuckling as if he had been chasing around a puppy instead of trying to subdue a 900-pound mass of disgruntled flesh, “but we managed to get her done on those days anyways.”
Wild horse racing has got to be tied for bullriding for scariest sanctioned sport in North America.
For those who have never watched it, the sport is a team rough stock event where squads of three compete with up to eight other teams in the arena at the same time, to subdue and then ride a bucking bronco.
After a horn is blown, the shankman is responsible for slowing the horse down by pulling on a rope attached to a bridle around its head. It is then the mugger’s job to grab the horse and cover its eyes in an attempt to calm it down. Finally, the rider tries to saddle the horse, mount it and ride to the opposite end of the arena, where he will attempt to ride in between the far fence and a barrel set up 20 feet away to qualify a time.
Contestants get dragged behind galloping horses, kicked and trampled on a regular basis. It’s nerve-wracking to watch, not to mention compete in.
Puhallo says the team came away from the Stampede with a few bumps and bruises but nothing major.
The season sees them compete in 20 events across B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Williams Lake Stampede is the largest B.C. event, so the team took home $2,000 for its efforts.
Next weekend, the team will head to a pair of Alberta rodeos before returning to take part in the Quesnel Rodeo during Billy Barker Days.
Puhallo, who started taking part in the wild sport in 2005, is in his 15th year of competition.
While he has thought about life after wild horse racing, his crew has insisted he stick around.
“I threatened my team that I would stop when I was 40,” he says, “but they aren’t going to let me, so I said I’ll keep going as long as they’re still into it.”
To see the Quesnel native compete, interested readers can make their way down to the Quesnel Rodeo at Alex Fraser Park July 19-21.
READ MORE: Quesnel’s best rodeo athletes travel to Williams Lake for first event of BCRA season
sports@quesnelobserver.com
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